Introduction to Soviet Democracy
...nal recognition, Russian implemented economic pressures, and devastating civil war (Lapidus 108). The costs of leaving the Federation would appear to outweigh any perceivable benefits gained by secession. Yet there are serious nationalist and regionalist concerns that the Russian Federation must address if there is a chance for democracy to take hold. Economic chaos must be avoided by establishing a sound currency and creating a common economic bond between the center and the periphery (Lapidus 108). There will be a deeper examination into the economic issues facing the Federation as a whole in the next section, but note that these concerns are magnified in the peripheral areas that lack developed agricultural and industrial economies. Issues of more effective regional and ethnic political representation must be addressed through a movement away from the Soviet system that unfairly distributes economic control and political power among ethnicities and nationalities (Lapidus 96). Many ethnic minorities lack administrative recognition for seemingly arbitrary reasons. It would appear that the best antidote for ethnic and national ills is a healthy economy that would bind the periphery to the center, therefore making secession an unattractive option. Along with sensible economic reforms, political restructuring is essential for stable democracy to take hold. The Road to a Market Economy At the heart of the difficulties plaguing the Russian Federation are the economic reforms that the Yeltsin regime has imposed upon the Russian people. Capitalism is viewed as a necessary ingredient (though not sufficient) contingency of a stable democracy. All established democracies are located in countries that place economic manufacture and aggregation in the hands of privately owned firms, with distribution of scarce resource achieved through market forces (Smitter 66). The movement away from the penetrative, all-encompassing Soviet economic octopus has caused enormous hardships for the Russian people. It has placed economic uncertainties in the path of political realities, resulting in policies that attempt to address the often contradictory objectives of economic liberalization in the wake of political democratization. Sweeping in after the failed coup of August 1991, economic reformers, led by Prime Minister Egor Gaidar, placed the Russian economy on a steady diet of economic shock therapy. The government’s misguided attempt to rest its reform program on fulfillment of a limited number of macroeconomic variables left the Russian economy in disarray. Despite a precipitous decline in economic productivity, radical reformers defended their macroeconomic policy, arguing that the supply side of the Russian economy would receive proper attention after stabilization. But what were the Russians to do in the meantime? The revolutionary fervor that characterized the early economic reforms did not take into account the punitive realities of their policies. As Steven Fish writes: “All had advocated ‘transition to a market economy.’ But this goal had been more of a dream than a demand, and few had actually considered how to achieve it (Fish 215). With all due deference to cliché, the early Russian economic policies can be succinctly summarized in “Be careful what you wish for; you might just get it.” Khrushchev stated that a country may follow its own road to socialism, and in a perverse sense that logic is still be applicable for Russian affairs. But, rather the mandate should be that each country should follow its own road towards capitalism. An examination of what the Communist apparatus left in its wake should cause pause for any free-market optimist. Seventy plus years of state socialism has left Russia with a two-ton gorilla on its collective economic back. On page 66 and 67 of his “Dangers And Dilemmas of Democracy”, Smitter outlines possible starting scenarios for incipient democracies. A best case scenario finds the nation with a preceding autocracy that had already concentrated profits, encouraged the private accumulation of wealth, increased the state’s fiscal capacity, invested in the country’s physical infrastructure and provided a positive starting point for international trade. Countries, such as Chile and Spain, that had inherited these elements, found the transition to a market economy easier. Russia and the other successor states to the Soviet Union found themselves in a much more precarious predicament. The state socialist regime left a legacy of corruption, protectionism, price distortions, foreign indebtedness, inefficient public enterprises, trade imbalances, and fiscal instability (Smitter 67). Combined with the simultaneous need for political reform, Russia faces a tall task indeed. The dubious tradition of the Soviet era has led to an overdependence on foreign advise and models of capitalism. Yet, it is clear that this may not be a wise path to follow. Much of the literature concerning post- communist literature warns of Russia relying to closely to the Western model of capitalism. Jowitt warns that Americans should temper their “missionary zeal” in exporting an idealistic view of “what we once were” (Jowitt 7). The simultaneous difficulties of nation-building, marketization, and democratization place the Soviet successor states in a unique and precarious situation. Privatization in Russia did occur extraordinarily rapidly, with the idea being that getting productive assets into private hands as fast as possible would make economic reform irreversible. This was arguably right - there is indeed a large and powerful group that has a great deal to lose from any effort to re-nationalize the economy. But this class is at the same time decidedly not interested in fair rules of market competition and an open economy. Rather it wants the state to preserve its privileges, protect its markets, and allow it to continue to reap the windfall gains of privatization. And neither does it seem to care much about democracy. At the same time, privatization has contributed greatly to the popular conviction that marketization has been deeply unjust: state assets were distributed disproportionately to insiders, to people willing to skirt the letter of the law, and in many cases to outright criminals. Official corruption and the lack of fair and enforced laws and clearly-defined property rights, have only contributed to this perception. As a result, while there is a growing middle class in Russia, it is smaller, less democratic in orientation, and less politically influential than it might have been without the state socialist tradition. The greatest misstep the Yeltsin regime took was moving forward with economic reform without addressing the need for wholesale, political renovation. There is a serious quandary that results in concurrent democratization and marketization. It derives from the basic difference between a government that strives to distribute power and status relatively equally (democratization) and an economy that distributes property and income relatively unequally (capitalism) (Smitter 67). This obstacle is magnified in Russian democratization with the fusion between politics and economics. Shevtsova writes “reformers cannot rest content with a rearrangement of relations among different institutions, but must strive to form new political and economic system” (Shevstova 57). Democratization and the Reinvention of Russian Government An orderly exit from the Soviet past and progress towards stable democracy necessitates the development of a state capable of effective governance. Tsarism and state socialism have provided Russians with little experience with working governmental institutions, nor knowledge of how to coordinate the actions of state agencies in pursuit of a common goal. As especially was the case with the early Gaidar economic reforms, political compromise and coalition building were ignored in favor of policies designed for the “public good.” The continued employment of Soviet-style politics by the Yeltsin regime bodes ill for the establishment of consolidated democracy in Russia. To begin the movement to a consolidated democracy, Russian government most promote new institutional capacities and move towards more rational and pragmatic linkages between formal administrative agencies and their functions. This is a sharp break away from bureaucratic malaise that characterized the Soviet system. Important in this development is the fostering of economic movements outside the old system (Shevtsova 56). Shevtsova raises an interesting question of whether the “collapse” of communism actually strengthened the hand of the nomenklatura , especially on the regional and local level, by allowing them to gain a novel claim of legitimacy as the leaders of new nations (Shevtsova 60). Along with this new found legitimacy came access to the new found economic resources. It is of foremost importance that wealth not be distributed solely among a small group of state officials and enterprise directors. Such actions could lead to a continuation of patron-client and personalist relations that characterized the state socialist system. But the separation between the public and private sphere is not clearly defined in Russian society. The penetration and coerciveness of the Communist Party dulled the line between state and civil society. In order to consolidate and strengthen the budding private sector, Russia needs to create an administrative system that actively encourages its growth. Note my use of the word “actively.”. Laissez faire policies are not what the private sector needs to grow and develop into a true bourgeoisie. A true bourgeoisie in the sense that economic opportunity and success is not achieved by simply being a former member of the nomenklatura. But recent improvements show that the distribution of wealth is becoming more equitable. Recent improvements in the privatization process, especially in dwellings, hold great promise for the expansion of small-scale property ownership; an important step in consolidating private ownership. This is along with a growing entrepreneurial spirit among less advantaged segments of the population, especially the young (Fish 234). To allow a government to actively encourage private, economic enterprise, political appointments must move above the personal level. There must be a balance between the administrative and political roles of the members of the bureaucracy. Shevstova writes on page 69 that Yeltsin “has a habit of ranking personal loyalty to himself far above professionalism when choosing appointees and subordinates.” The clientelism of the Soviet era is alive and kicking in the Yeltsin government. To challenge this system, a professional bureaucracy, one that is limited in its ability to intervene directly in the policy-making process, must develop. Another important component of democratization that Shevstova feels is missing from the current Yeltsin administration is a lack of imperatives to build broad consensus and foster genuine communication between leaders and citizens at large (Shevstova 57). Much of this can be attributed to the Communist tradition that placed enormous authority in the local ministers. The autarkic, socialist system allowedexecutive agencies to acquire many legislative functions. Communication with constituents andconsensus building was a unnecessary hassle. The real conflict existed within the decision-making elite. As we will see later, elite conflict is still a major ingredient in the Yeltsin formula of power consolidation.Shevstova call this lack of consensus building and communication a hangover from Leninism (Shevstova 57). Political power was restricted to a self-selected elite which iniated new personnel less for theirtechnical skills than their willingness to embrace Communist ideology or their relationship to powerful party elites. This system of clientelism retarded and made irrelevant any development of modern, responsive bureaucratic institutional arrangements. Consequently, today’s bureaucrats (and yesterday’s communists) find it difficult to appreciate the need for compromise, power sharing, and local initiative. This is precisely the problem Russia faces with Yeltsin. It is painfully apparent from his tenure as the architect of Russia early transition period, that old habits die hard. Yeltsin: Presidential Power and His Communist Tradition A brief look at the Boris Yeltsin biographical sketch shows that he is truly a maverick who, on the eve of Ol’ Blue Eyes birthday (Sinatra that is; I think Yeltsin also has blue eyes), “did it his way.” Rising through the nomenklatura , gaining a reputation as a fearless reformer, Yeltsin found himself as a member of the Politburo. Once again, Yeltsin proved an able and determined reformer, but an estrangement between himself and Gorbachev set in when Yeltsin began criticizing the slow pace of reform at party meetings, challenging party conservatives and even criticizing Gorbachev himself. Yeltsin was forced to resign in disgrace from the Moscow party leadership in 1987 and from the Politburo in 1988. His Lazarus act is well documented. Just as well documented his tendency to become a political chameleon, changing his colors to suit any political condition. He has been a communist boss, a reformer within the communist system, a liberal slayer of communism and a nationalist warrior against secessionism (Shevstova 69). While the Am...